Anti-Israeli demonstrations are back -- sort of. Amira Howeidy reports Dozens of anti-riot police line up, row after row, blocking the entrance of the Lawyers Syndicate headquarters on Ramsis Street. Several worried looking police officers mutter into their walkie-talkies. A young man inside the barricaded building lingers at the gate as his fellow activists try to take him outside. His forehead is swollen, and blood is trickling from cuts on the violet swelling that was created half an hour ago by an anti-riot policeman's baton. This is a classic scene of how popular sympathies with the Palestinians' plight clash with official policy. And that was exactly the case on Monday and Tuesday when Egyptian activists and leading figures from across the political spectrum held small demonstrations at the Lawyers Syndicate to protest against Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres's visit to Cairo for talks on Monday. It's been quite a while since anti- Israeli demonstrations poured into Egyptian streets. After the almost daily public protests that began in April and lasted through mid-May silence has reigned as public mobilisation -- spurred on by Arab satellite TV channels -- came to a halt. It was more obvious, however, that the government preferred a more silent street and instead pave the way for "diplomatic" efforts. But such efforts failed to stop the Israeli war-machine from killing Palestinians each day. Israel's bombing of a Gaza neighbourhood, which resulted in 15 dead, just over two weeks ago, sparked the first signs of a return to anti-Israeli and anti-American demonstrations when protests broke out on 2 August at Al-Azhar Mosque. Following Friday prayers, hundreds of worshippers chanted anti-Israeli and anti- American slogans. The demonstrators called for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Egypt and criticised Arab governments for their "weak" response to the massacre. The impact of that demonstration nearly went unnoticed until Egypt announced it was receiving Peres on Tuesday in Alexandria. By Monday, the call for a demonstration at the Lawyers Syndicate was circulating by word of mouth. A protest was scheduled to coincide with the talks on Tuesday. However, when the talks were rescheduled for a day earlier -- for Monday -- confusion took hold of the activists. So on Monday at noon, some 30 intellectuals, activists and representatives of various political trends showed up at the Lawyers Syndicate and waited in the building's shady backyard, ready to protest. "Where's the demonstration?" someone asked. No one answered as the would-be demonstrators chatted among themselves. Then, suddenly, as TV crews appeared, Kamal Khalil, a leftist activist, known for leading the chanting of slogans, stood up and cried at the top of his voice: "The resistance remains, Peres, get out, take your ambassador and get out." Those assembled followed suit, chanting along. The demonstration began. "Hizbullah, hit, hit Tel Aviv!" they cried "Martyrdom is not suicide!" As the cameras started rolling and more reporters showed up, effectively outnumbering the demonstrators themselves, the protest reached the gate of the syndicate where a dozen or more members of the anti-riot police appeared, blocking the entrance. "No to hitting Iraq!" demonstrators shouted, "Hold on, Baghdad, this is the work of Americans and Zionists and we will not allow the aggression to happen!" "This is a symbolic demonstration", emphasised Ashraf El- Bayoumi, a university professor and former UN official, "but that's inevitable, and we see nothing wrong with it," he told the audience and reporters in defence of the size of the demonstration. "This symbolic gathering protests the visit of Israeli war criminal Shimon Peres." Holding a copy of the International Herald Tribune over his head to shelter himself from the blazing sun, El- Bayoumi said, "Peres symbolises the Zionist plot to divide the Arab nation, including Egypt. We represent the various political trends in this country that defend Egypt's national security. People who want to protect our national security reject the Camp David agreement. We oppose selling oil to Israel; we oppose Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, some of which are directed at us. We oppose dependency on the US. And it shouldn't annoy us that only a few people are participating in this symbolic demonstration because there are millions of Egyptians who share our views." Even fewer people showed up for Tuesday's demonstration -- also aimed at protesting Peres's visit, although a day after the fact. "I think that as a matter of principle it's important we demonstrate," argued Aida Seif El-Dawla of the Egyptian Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada (ECSPI). Indeed, following the three months of silence while Israel continued killing Palestinians, many activists are hoping that spring's wave of demonstrations are not just a thing of the past. Any demonstration, no matter how "symbolic" is celebrated. This was clear in the media attention that Monday's protest garnered. Every local TV news report on Peres's visit to Egypt characterised the demonstration as "an expression of public anger", despite the fact that there was no public, only a few dozen intellectuals. El-Bayoumi isn't bothered by this. "We are under emergency law, so there are no real political parties that organise and channel such expressions of anger in demonstrations. Most of these demonstrations are spontaneous," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. "I'm not surprised or disappointed that there weren't demonstrations in recent months. But there are conditions which are less important [than the performance of political parties] like the weather, the fact that it's summer; many intellectuals are not here and many students are on holiday. At previous demonstrations students were a major force. But we'll see the demonstrations return in the fall." But sceptics argue that although there was need for the channelling and consolidation of the sentiments expressed in the nation-wide uprising in support of the Intifada, that never happened. The summer holidays and the heat, they say, are insufficient excuse. "I fully agree," says El-Bayoumi, "but there are attempts to bring together intellectuals from across the spectrum in the same framework and, in fact, we issued two statements, one in April signed by many top intellectuals from the far left to the far right. Recently, we issued a statement in the same vein, which points out the tasks that we're supposed to achieve and the necessity of organising to maintain continuity." "Wait for the fall," he repeated. As Israel escalates its attacks on Palestinian towns and continues to assassinate key militants while, at the same time, the Bush administration prepares for a major strike on Iraq, millions are, along with El- Bayoumi, waiting for the fall.
